Robert Hutchings Goddard was an American professor, physicist and inventor, best remembered as the father of modern rocketry. He successfully launched his first rocket on 16th March 1926, beginning an era of space flight and innovation. Between 1926 and 1941, he along with his team launched 34 rockets that achieved altitudes as high as 2.6 km, reaching speeds as fast as 885 km/hr. It was his work throughout the years—both as a theorist as well as an engineer—that helped make space flight possible. The multi-stage rocket and the liquid-fueled rocket are considered two of his most significant inventions. Despite his revolutionary work, he received very little moral or financial support from the public. Some of his theories regarding space flight were even ridiculed by the press and other scientists. However, several years after he passed away, people started regarding him as one of the founding fathers of modern rocketry. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has been named after him. In 1966, he was inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame and ten years later, into the International Space Hall of Fame.
